Well-defined Pt-Co nanowire networks (NWNs) were successfully prepared as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts by a surfactant-assisted soft template (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAB) synthesis procedure for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). We systematically investigate the impact of synthesis conditions, including the amount of reducing agent used, reaction stirring rates and CTAB concentrations, to determine the conditions for synthesizing Pt-Co NWNs with optimal ORR activity. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) results reveal that Pt-Co NWNs exhibit superior ORR activity in comparison to commercial Pt/C used as a benchmark. The mass and specific activities of Pt-Co NWNs are 0.179 A mg(pt)(-1) and 357.5 A cm(pt)(-2), respectively. This represents improvements of about 210% and 220%, respectively, in comparison to Pt/C. In addition, accelerated degradation testing (ADT) shows that the Pt-Co NWNs catalysts demonstrate evidently improved durability than commercial Pt/C in terms of electrochemical surface area and ORR activity retention. This renders Pt-Co NV/Ns as a highly promising, emerging class of ORR catalysts for PEMFCs application. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.